5 STRANGE FACTS ABOUT DENMARK PART 3

Hej Everyone!

I know, that the upcoming posts were supposed to be about my apartment stories, however I think you are not that much interested in those.. Are you? Let me know! Today though, I have for you 5 Strange Facts about Denmark part 3. I know you love these series! Write a comment below and share your thoughts of Denmark too!:)

5 Strange Facts About Denmark Part 1
5 Strange Facts About Denmark Part 2

As always, a little disclaimer - these facts are not as strange to me as they were before. Those are the things that surprised me about Denmark and might surprise you! I am not writing these posts to offend Danes or show my huge love to them. These are just the things that I observed over 5 years in Denmark :)

1. Rich Students

In Poland (where I come from) students going to universities, in order to pay their rent and/or their expenses, they need to have a part time job. Unless you have rich parents of course! There are also some schools that you need to pay for. The people who did not get into public universities, are often enrolled into these private ones and they need to pay there money for each semester. Well, in Denmark all students are receiving their monthly pay from the government and trust me, they can afford to live well and party for that, without having to find any job! ;)

2. Black Prams

When my mother came to visit me here in Denmark she told me about this and I started noticing that. In my country there is plenty of colorful baby prams / strollers ! The bluest or the yellowest - the better. In Denmark though EVERY stroller is BLACK! When I said about that on my polish website, people commented that it is because, there is not that much sun here, therefore black brings a bit of warmth into the pram and the baby. Is that true, or is it just fashion? :) You let me know!:)

3. The Teacher May Be Your Friend!

I was so surprised when I came here and all the teachers wanted me to speak to them by name! Does not really matter if the teacher is young or older. They don't really like to be called mr. mrs. or Professor. Sometimes they can even sit down in a friday bar with you and have a beer together! It was a huge challenge for me because I come from a country where the power relation is kind of big and you talk to everyone calling them Mr., Mrs. or Professor and you keep a distance!

4. Clean Up After Your Dog (REALLY!)

When you see signs with "Clean up after your dog" you don't really pay attention to that, do you? At least I know me, and all my friends. However when they say so in Denmark, DO IT. Otherwise you will have people looking at you like killers or screaming from the window to clean the poop up! #neighbourpolice

5. Naked People Around Me!

One day I decided to go to the swimming pool here in Denmark, and what? And I was shocked! I had no idea that being naked is not a big issue here at all. In Poland everyone hide themselves in locker-rooms, or behind the towels, because you can't even see a knee of a child! (joke, or not..  but you know what I mean) Here nobody cares. Young and older women are going around with EVERYTHING on the view, either in the public changing-rooms or in the shower area. After a couple of times, I stopped caring as well, but until now it's a pretty strange view to me:)

Well, I hope you liked all of the observations and I am not the only one noticing them! Let me know what you think about it and if you have anything else that really surprised you?:) I am waiting for your comments!:)

Aleks

Rejsekort - Your travelling card

Hi everyone!

After talking to some students here in Aalborg, I noticed that some of them, did not know of existance of rejsekort. That is why I decided to inform you all about that.

What is it, for who and how much does it cost?
Rejsekort - Travelling card, is a card you can use when travelling in Denmark. The tickets are much cheaper than usual - the normal ticket in a bus costs 20kr, and  with your travelling card you pay only 9 or 12 - depending where you are and how much you travel. You can have your rejsekort totally for free, however  you need to pay an activation amount, can be 50 or 100kr , which you can later on use on your travelling. So if you are a student here and you know, there won't be classes in the uni every day, there is no point to buy a monthly ticket - because this alternative could be much cheaper.

The only thing that you need is your CPR number and danish account number so you can load up your card every time you need it. You can order it online (over here) and it will come to you within 1 week :)

If you are a tourist, you can also have it,then its called anonymous, but you need to pay for it 80kr.

When visiting other cities..
The great thing about it, is that you can use this card travelling in Aalborg and when you are lets say fly to Copenhagen, you can also use this card over there - from the airport to the centrum. For me its very convenient! I am lazy, and don't like buying a ticket every time I travel in another city, especially when its metro in Copenhagen and you don't quite have a time to buy a ticket, because the metro is going away in a half of minute.. :)

When travelling between the cities..
When you are travelling from Aalborg to Vodskov or Nibe for example, the card is still working and it's still cheaper. I was going last time from Aalborg to anoter city 25 km from here, without a card I paid around 50kr and with a card, only 28. However when you have a longer way to make, Aaloborg - Aarhus for example , then its not such a big difference, its actually better to buy a normal ticket then, unless you upgrade your card, but you need to pay more.

I hope you are now more or less informed. The website is also in english so I highly recommend reading more information about all of that before buying the card. http://www.rejsekort.dk

And remember - when you have a card already ITS CRUCIAL to check IN every time before a travel and check OUT when its over (by putting the card close to the blue point in the bus for example) If you don't do that, there will be money taken from your card. (I think it will be around 50kr)

Have a good journey!
Aleks

Summer trip to Farup

Dear UCN'ers!

Nice to see you back:)

How did you enjoy your summer holidays? I guess you have great memories.. especially now, during this fall season! I want to share with you a part of my holidays, which  may be an inspiration for you all to prepare properely for the next ones?:)

In the end of september, me and my boyfriend decided to do something fun.. but well.. what to do here?! Well, he found two option - Billund Lego or Fårup Sommerland:) After counting the costs of transportation, tickets, dinner and excitment rate - we decided to go to Fårup.

As they describe themselves - it's the story about a dream and it's first Scandinavian Summerland, which was founded in 1975:) They have everything that you as a kid dreamed of - a huge Aqua Park and a land full of amazing and exciting rides. The place is so huge that eventhough the weather was perfect that day, we decided to split the events and spend one day just on the rides and another we come and be in aqua park (of course the weather didn't allow us to do so later on, unfortuanately.. ) But being all day on the rides was enough. We came back soooo tired after our adrenaline went up like crazy every time we were upsite down on the rollercoaster..

The ticket for the aqua park and all the rollercoasters (and  trust me you have so many to choose from) is 255kr and the ticket to Farup from Aalborg (bus terminal or Vesterbro) is around 120kr two ways. In the summer they have special buses going directely to Farup Sommerland every 15 min I think :) The only problem there is that the lines are HUGE!! So for every 'dangerous' and most 'excciting' rollercoaster you need to wait around 40min minimum. There are also other great attractions, but I would call it for the more relaxing experience.. ;)

So if you are a fan of a great adrenaline, as I am - you need to really go there and try this experience.. Here I prepared a  short video from this day, just capturing the park , without an 'aqua land' but, I am sure you can find some pictures on their website !:)

Make your plans already for the next summer, its gonna be amazing!:) And if you know any places I would enjoy, please let me know in the comments down below!:)

Aleks :)

Student Job in Aalborg

Dear UCN'ers!

Recentely I am getting lots of emails from you guys, about finding work in Aalborg. I also know that the video interview that I made with Adrian (available here), who is working as a bartender in Aalborg has caused controversy on facebook page. That is why I decided to create this blog post and tell you my opinion on that subject.

Honestely? Finding work in Aalborg is extremely hard! And that is, what every international student in Aalborg can tell you. Most propably you've also heared that if you really want this, you can do this. However we all know it is easy to say. So, as I am in Aalborg already 4 years and I will leave you with my tips on what has worked for me.

1. For now, I would really suggest you all, newcomers - Focus on what you came here for - and that definetely is the education. Everyone is making such a big "halo" on finding work in Aalborg, but in my opionion if you decide to take such a big step and come to a foreign country to study , you shall have some money ready for it aside. (At least that was the case for me..) Believe me that in september/october everyone is coming and everyone is going to look for work. Following the sheeps you will lose so much of your energy for finding work instead of studying.. Trust me, the situation just before christmas will be much better and then you may be a wolf :)


2. Spend time on your education at school and learning danish! Remember the blog post I made about danish for foreigners? You can find it here with explanation on every important aspect of it and interview with some of the students from UCN. Because, as I was writing, you as an international student, can learn danish totally for free (the government is paying for that) So use the opportunity people and spend the first 3 months in Denmark on getting to know the danish culture and language and I guarantee you - the Danes prefer to hire someone who is at least trying to integrate to their community!

3. I guess it is the easiest task for all of you so I am going to say it out loud - Socialise! Being honest here, networking helped me the most in finding most of my jobs in Aalborg.. and trust me, I had a lot of them here. As I was saying - through the first 3 months feel as a real student here - study, integrate and party! And you never know - maybe your friend is going away for the christmas holidays, and will leave the job for you?:) Maybe at your friend's work, they are looking for a new person and your friend will recommend you?:)

In my opinion, that are the 3 the most essential tips I can give you. I managed well (must say) following these. Hope you will as well. And remember! Be a student - you still have lots of time before you go to a real work:)

Good luck! :)

UCN Graduate, what next?

Dear UCN'ers

"Long time no see", or so they say. From my graduation in january I did not mention much about that, but it is just because of lack of time. 
And.. it happened -  after 3,5 years in UCN I recieved my diploma. I graduated with bachelor degree in International Hospitality Managemnet. It's over! UCN experience has finished for me, at least in the point of education. BUT, no worries, you'll be seeing me around, reading propably more posts on this site.  If you ask me about the graduation ceremony, well, I must say I liked the AP one MUCH more. On the bachelor one, we only recieved diplomas, lunch, little chat with the teachers and good bye. Not too much effort in comparison to AP graduation. Hopefully yours will be better!:)

You must be propably wondering, what now? Well, from the graduation time until april I was very busy with my work. About one of my jobs you were able to read in my Previous Post and about the second one - I will let you know soon, but I felt really happy I could experience working for a danish  business. However now, I have a free time, at least until september, and yes, I am staying in Aalborg. I am gathering my powers, learning and developing  myself in case of danish, my skills, my character among many others. I also want to spare some time for travelling. Anyways, I have lots of time, and with sun coming out in Aalborg, there is plenty to show you on my blog! 

You may be sure - I will be reviewing as much as I can and I will try to fulfill any of your requests regarding life in Aalborg. Just leave me the comments down below, on my Facebook site or on my email with whatever you would like to read about or see in a form of video:) Soon, you will be able to see me in a new position, I tried something new and I hope you will like it! 

Since I have some free time, I am going out from time to  time, together with my friends, to celebrate our life and take a time off from the problems. Here, I managed to record a video for you guys, so you can see how we party and live Aalborg , UCN graduate life. :)

Enjoy,

Aleks